Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
STAGE TWO - Santa Rosa to Sacramento
The grey skies opened up with a downpour of cool rain just before the start (no doubt soaking the peleton and their supporters assembled at the historic Railroad Square.) My quest of meeting the climbers on Trinity Grade, the second KOM points for the tour, was necessarily slowed by family good-byes so that my "start" was at the same 10:00 AM. Fortunately my race down Highway 12 was considerably easier (and shorter) than the tour's and the rain let up as I approached the intersection at precisely the Tour-Log's predicted time of 10:33 AM. The soggy crowd was still facing across the intersection, so I began scampering up the lower legs of the awesome climb. It was encouraging to hear the cowbells and thundersticks of a the tifosi scattered along the shoulders that twists upward on the wooded route. Hearing a siren in the distance I pulled to the side and joined a small crowd of about a dozen at the edge of a nice sweeping corner.
The motorcycle parade of photographers and officials proceeded the Mavic neutral support car and the California Highway Patrol who courteously announced the imminent arrival of two breakaway riders, minutes ahead of the peleton! The little crowd unfurled a banner (so muddied it was illegible but enthusiastic) and the tension mounted, as each successive vehicle climbed past us slower than the previous. We could hear the clang of cowbells from the lower switchback and finally a solo rider appeared in the corner, pumping up the grade, oblivious to the clatter and shouts. It was Scott Nydam of BMC followed by his team car in a dramatic effort that he would sustain for another 90 miles! An eternity later, the following rider quietly sawed up the outer edge of the curve and soon disappeared up the hill ahead of a small parade vehicles.
An even longer wait was broken by the sirens and shouting and procession of motorized vehicles, and our small crowd squinted through the branches at the lower curve until the full peleton appeared, five abreast, shoulder to shoulder pounding their pedals in a measured "crawl" up the grade towards us. The entire mob stuck together, making a colorful blur salted with the white rain-jackets most still wore despite the drying conditions. Their combined speed was hardly slow, but more impressive was the order with which they navigated the twisting banked asphalt.
As quickly as the appeared into our corner, the peleton instantly vanished in a wall of slow moving team cars, wheels and frames which jockeyed back and forth filling the entire road. More motorcycles and finally the Bissell Broom Wagon and two ambulances. Anti-climatically the final follow vehicle was a plain grey pickup carrying several very real brooms and a small AMGEN white Tour Of California square stuck on the tailgate.
My roll down Trinity was short - not so for those in cars waiting in a long line at the stop sign at Highway 12. Tuesday traffic, grey road grit and cold didn't dampen my elation for having arrived in time to see the KOM beginning his conquest of Trinity.
The motorcycle parade of photographers and officials proceeded the Mavic neutral support car and the California Highway Patrol who courteously announced the imminent arrival of two breakaway riders, minutes ahead of the peleton! The little crowd unfurled a banner (so muddied it was illegible but enthusiastic) and the tension mounted, as each successive vehicle climbed past us slower than the previous. We could hear the clang of cowbells from the lower switchback and finally a solo rider appeared in the corner, pumping up the grade, oblivious to the clatter and shouts. It was Scott Nydam of BMC followed by his team car in a dramatic effort that he would sustain for another 90 miles! An eternity later, the following rider quietly sawed up the outer edge of the curve and soon disappeared up the hill ahead of a small parade vehicles.
An even longer wait was broken by the sirens and shouting and procession of motorized vehicles, and our small crowd squinted through the branches at the lower curve until the full peleton appeared, five abreast, shoulder to shoulder pounding their pedals in a measured "crawl" up the grade towards us. The entire mob stuck together, making a colorful blur salted with the white rain-jackets most still wore despite the drying conditions. Their combined speed was hardly slow, but more impressive was the order with which they navigated the twisting banked asphalt.
As quickly as the appeared into our corner, the peleton instantly vanished in a wall of slow moving team cars, wheels and frames which jockeyed back and forth filling the entire road. More motorcycles and finally the Bissell Broom Wagon and two ambulances. Anti-climatically the final follow vehicle was a plain grey pickup carrying several very real brooms and a small AMGEN white Tour Of California square stuck on the tailgate.
My roll down Trinity was short - not so for those in cars waiting in a long line at the stop sign at Highway 12. Tuesday traffic, grey road grit and cold didn't dampen my elation for having arrived in time to see the KOM beginning his conquest of Trinity.
Monday, February 18, 2008
STAGE ONE - Sausilito to Santa Rosa
This morning I am off in a ROAD magazine kit to pick up my press credential, taking the long way to downtown along Bennet Valley Road, a beautiful ride past windy lanes and overhanging oaks. Its a narrow road, treacherous with rural traffic mixed with high speed commuters - but the racers will of course be escorted front and rear when they begin Stage Two.
Santa Rosa sits in a valley surrounded by a convolution of hills rocky and volvanic. The "wine country" surrounds the city limits, but the wet winds that blow up from the San Francisco bay and over Coleman Valley from the ocean have made the area better known for dairies. Its a historic city, once flattened by earthquake, with a town square that makes a perfect criterium finish for the stage. A huge mall and redevelopment almost took this quaint downtown, but fortunately the planners were stopped just short of a complete modernization. In the last decade small shops, narrowed streets and new circulation plans have made the historic core blossom.
The route in is incredibly beautiful; the peleton rolls past ocean, green fields, rocky bluffs and hillsides and then after its run up the coast it turns inland. There the famous climb up Coleman yields spectacular views for the crowds and an opportunity for the mountain angels to break from the sprinters that will likely dominate the fast downtown circuit.
Off to the races...
Sunday, February 17, 2008
PROLOGUE - the race is on
The weather here in Santa Rosa is cool and crisp, the grey overcast didn't clear until early in the afternoon. The computer is humming away on the Sprint wireless card spewing live video from the PROLOGUE south of here in Palo Alto. Its just amazing that without wires, here in the country, I can see the race "as it happens!" Its just like watching TV, except that instead of commercial breaks, I have pixelation, pauses and strange artifacts. Actually AMGEN is doing their best to remind us of their sponsorship (and sell us stuff.)
As the standings change, with the super speed demons still to come, I assemble my Bike Friday to get some road time in in the neighborhood that will soon see the field in the flesh - when STAGE ONE comes to town in tomorrow afternoon.
As the standings change, with the super speed demons still to come, I assemble my Bike Friday to get some road time in in the neighborhood that will soon see the field in the flesh - when STAGE ONE comes to town in tomorrow afternoon.
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